​Pierre Bergé, who died earlier this month, was as indispensable to the fashion label Yves Saint Laurent as was Yves Saint Laurent himself. Certainly, Yves Saint Laurent was the creative genius: likely the only genius of the Albert Einstein/Charlie Chaplin caliber the fashion world has produced. Yet, like so many geniuses, Saint Laurent was prone to mental imbalance. It required a sophisticate that also had a talent for business like Pierre Bergé to not only appreciate YSL's talent but to manage it (and him).

In her excellent book, The Beautiful Fall, Alicia Drake describes the two as “l aigle à deux tête," a two-headed eagle. YSL muse Betty Catroux went further. Of Pierre Bergé, she commented, "Voila, one who suffers a thousand times more than the other [Yves Saint Laurent]. A thousand times more.’"